In computing and telecommunication, a control character or non-printing character is a code point (a number) in a character set, that does not in itself represent a written symbol. It is in-band signaling in the context of character encoding. All entries in the ASCII table below code 32 (technically the C0 control code set) and 127 are of this kind, including BEL (which is intended to cause an audible signal in the receiving terminal), SYN (which is a synchronization signal), and ENQ (a signal that is intended to trigger a response at the receiving end, to see if it is still present). The Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code (EBCDIC) character set contains 65 control codes, including all of the ASCII control codes as well as additional codes which are mostly used to control IBM peripherals. Unicode makes a distinction between Control characters (C0 and C1 control codes) versus Formatting characters (such as the Zero-width non-joiner).
Other characters are mainly printing, printable, or graphic characters, except perhaps for the "space" character (see ASCII printable characters).
| 0x00 | 0x10 | |
|---|---|---|
| 0x00 | NUL | DLE |
| 0x01 | SOH | DC1 |
| 0x02 | STX | DC2 |
| 0x03 | ETX | DC3 |
| 0x04 | EOT | DC4 |
| 0x05 | ENQ | NAK |
| 0x06 | ACK | SYN |
| 0x07 | BEL | ETB |
| 0x08 | BS | CAN |
| 0x09 | TAB | EM |
| 0x0A | LF | SUB |
| 0x0B | VT | ESC |
| 0x0C | FF | FS |
| 0x0D | CR | GS |
| 0x0E | SO | RS |
| 0x0F | SI | US |
| 0x7F | DEL |
Read more about Control Character: History, In ASCII, In Unicode, Display, How Control Characters Map To Keyboards, The Design Purpose
Famous quotes containing the words control and/or character:
“I have not ceased being fearful, but I have ceased to let fear control me. I have accepted fear as a part of life, specifically the fear of change, the fear of the unknown, and I have gone ahead despite the pounding in the heart that says: turn back, turn back, you’ll die if you venture too far.”
—Erica Jong, U.S. author. In an essay in The Writer on Her Work, ch. 13 (1980)
“Science asks no questions about the ontological pedigree or a priori character of a theory, but is content to judge it by its performance; and it is thus that a knowledge of nature, having all the certainty which the senses are competent to inspire, has been attained—a knowledge which maintains a strict neutrality toward all philosophical systems and concerns itself not with the genesis or a priori grounds of ideas.”
—Chauncey Wright (1830–1875)